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Module 5 challenge: Process Management(Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User) Answers 2025

Question 1

When Windows boots up, what is the first non-kernel process that starts?

  • ❌ Powershell

  • ❌ The csrss.exe process

  • ✅ The smss.exe process

  • ❌ The winlogon process

🔹 Explanation:
smss.exe (Session Manager Subsystem) is the first user-mode (non-kernel) process started by the Windows kernel. It’s responsible for starting system sessions and critical processes like csrss.exe and winlogon.exe.

Question 2

When a process completes its task, what happens? Select all that apply.

  • ❌ The process releases all the resources it was using to its parent.

  • ✅ The process releases all the resources it was using back to the kernel.

  • ❌ The process goes into a suspended state.

  • ✅ The process terminates automatically.

🔹 Explanation:
When a process finishes execution, it releases its resources (memory, file handles, etc.) to the kernel and terminates — it does not go into suspension.

Question 3

How do you find a process PID number in Windows Task Manager?

  • ❌ Click on the Processes tab.

  • ✅ Click the Details tab.

  • ❌ Select a process from the process list.

  • ❌ Task Manager will not show PID numbers.

🔹 Explanation:
The Details tab in Windows Task Manager shows each process along with its Process ID (PID), status, and other details.

Question 4

When using the ps -ef command to read process information in Linux, what is the process’ PPID?

  • ❌ The terminal associated with the process

  • ❌ Its Process Identification number

  • ❌ The ID of the person who launched the process

  • ✅ The Process Identification number of its parent

🔹 Explanation:
The PPID (Parent Process ID) identifies the parent process that created or launched the current process.

Question 5

What is the default action of the SIGINT signal?

  • ❌ To restart the process that is signaled

  • ✅ To terminate the process that is signaled

  • ❌ To suspend the process that is signaled

  • ❌ To put the process that is signaled into a sleep state

🔹 Explanation:
SIGINT (Signal Interrupt) is typically triggered by pressing Ctrl+C in a terminal and tells the process to terminate gracefully.

Question 6

Which of the following options in Process Explorer will terminate a selected process? Select all that apply.

  • ✅ Kill Process Tree

  • ❌ Restart

  • ✅ Kill Process

  • ❌ Suspend

🔹 Explanation:
In Process Explorer, you can stop a process using Kill Process (to end one process) or Kill Process Tree (to end it and all its child processes).

Question 7

In Linux, what signal is sent when you enter the kill pid command?

  • ✅ SIGTERM

  • ❌ SIGINT

  • ❌ SIGKILL

  • ❌ SIGTSTP

🔹 Explanation:
By default, the kill command sends SIGTERM (signal 15), which politely asks the process to terminate. SIGKILL (-9) must be specified explicitly to force stop.

Question 8

In iOS and Android, what’s the first thing you should try when troubleshooting a misbehaving app?

  • ❌ Check for an app that is using a lot of battery.

  • ✅ Close apps, one at a time, starting with the foreground app.

  • ❌ Uninstall apps, one at a time, starting with the least recently used app.

  • ❌ Close apps, one at a time, starting with the least recently used app.

🔹 Explanation:
When an app misbehaves, the simplest and quickest fix is to close it (force quit) — especially the foreground app — before trying deeper troubleshooting.

Question 9

Which of the following PowerShell commands will sort processes by amount of non-paged memory, in descending order?

  • ❌ Get-Process | Sort CPU -descending | Select -property ID, ProcessName

  • ❌ Get-Process | Sort -property ID, ProcessName

  • ✅ Get-Process | Sort NPM -descending | Select -property ID, ProcessName

  • ❌ Get-Process | Sort WS -ascending | Select -property ID, ProcessName

🔹 Explanation:
The NPM property represents Non-Paged Memory in PowerShell. Sorting it in descending order lists processes using the most kernel memory at the top.

Question 10

Which of the following Linux commands shows information about the current time, how long your system’s been running, how many users are logged on, and what the load average of your machine is?

  • ❌ top

  • ✅ uptime

  • ❌ lsof

  • ❌ ps -ef

🔹 Explanation:
The uptime command shows system runtime, number of logged-in users, and the load average (CPU usage over time).

🧩 Summary:

  • The first non-kernel Windows process is smss.exe.

  • Processes release resources to the kernel and then terminate.

  • PIDs are visible in Task Manager’s Details tab.

  • In Linux, PPID refers to the Parent Process ID.

  • SIGINT and SIGTERM are graceful termination signals.

  • Process Explorer uses “Kill Process” or “Kill Process Tree” to end tasks.

  • The kill command sends SIGTERM by default.

  • On mobile, start troubleshooting by closing the foreground app.

  • PowerShell’s NPM sorts by non-paged memory usage.

  • uptime displays system load and uptime details.

✅ Key takeaway: